The working title for my ENGL 361 Final Paper is currently “Courtly Love in BBC’s Merlin: It’s Not Just For Kings and Queens Anymore,” and I aim to explore the different manners of courtly love practiced in the BBC’s 21st century television show Merlin, with much of the focus geared towards the platonic relationship Merlin and Arthur have throughout the series. Drawing from Andreas Capellanus’ “The Art of Courtly Love” and multiple examples from the show itself, I plan to exhibit how the ideals of courtly love are featured in Merlin and Arthur’s relationship and how that strengthens their bond, with a comparison to Arthur’s courtly love with Guinevere romantically. The relationship between Arthur and Guinevere is not the most popular, or even convincing, one on the show, so how does courtly love play a role in that? I will then consider the effect these examples of courtly love have on modern audiences, and how that might have influenced the decisions the showrunners made.

Courtly love is a central aspect to much of the Arthurian literature we have read so far, so I’m interested in how that has translated to adaptations in the modern context. By analyzing the way in which the BBC’s Merlin attends to this topic can be a good way to evaluate that idea. The show also does a good job not only using these relationships as plot devices, but also as methods for character development. In David Tollerton’s “Multiculturalism, Diversity, and Religious Tolerance in Modern Britain and the BBC’s Merlin,” the author outlines how the ideas of courtly love, when coupled with prevailing ideas of tolerance, contribute to the development of certain characters, especially King Arthur.

Though sources such as that one will be helpful, this essay will mainly consist of my analysis of Arthurian courtly love in the 21st century “text”, BBC’s Merlin.